Invite Hannibal Lecter into the palace of your mind and be invited into his mind palace in turn. Note the similarities in yours and his, the high vaulted chambers of your dreams, the shadowed halls, the locked storerooms where you dare not go, the scrap of half-forgotten music, the muffled cries from behind a wall. In one of the most eagerly anticipated literary events of the decade, Thomas Harris takes us once again into the mind of a killer, crafting a chilling portrait... More Description

Invite Hannibal Lecter into the palace of your mind and be invited into his mind palace in turn. Note the similarities in yours and his, the high vaulted chambers of your dreams, the shadowed halls, the locked storerooms where you dare not go, the scrap of half-forgotten music, the muffled cries from behind a wall.

In one of the most eagerly anticipated literary events of the decade, Thomas Harris takes us once again into the mind of a killer, crafting a chilling portrait of insidiously evolving evil—a tour de force of psychological suspense.

Seven years have passed since Dr. Hannibal Lecter escaped from custody, seven years since FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling interviewed him in a maximum security hospital for the criminally insane. The doctor is still at large, pursuing his own ineffable interests, savoring the scents, the essences of an unguarded world. But Starling has never forgotten her encounters with Dr. Lecter, and the metallic rasp of his seldom-used voice still sounds in her dreams.

Mason Verger remembers Dr. Lecter, too, and is obsessed with revenge. He was Dr. Lecter's sixth victim, and he has survived to rule his own butcher's empire. From his respirator, Verger monitors every twitch in his worldwide web. Soon he sees that to draw the doctor, he must have the most exquisite and innocent-appearing bait; he must have what Dr. Lecter likes best.

Powerful, hypnotic, utterly original, Hannibal is a dazzling feast for the imagination. Prepare to travel to hell and beyond as a master storyteller permanently alters the world you thought you knew.

Author Thomas Harris was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1940 to Thomas, an electrical engineer, and Polly, a high school chemistry and biology teacher. He graduated with a B.A. from Baylor University in 1964. He has one child, a daughter, from his first marriage.

Harris worked as a general assignment reporter for the Associated Press in New York and covered the crime beat daily. He spent time at the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico and has interviewed serial killer Ted Bundy in researching for his novels.

Harris's first novel, "Black Sunday" (1975), was a collaborative effort with fellow reporters Sam Maul and Dick Riley. While working the evening shift for the AP, they came up with the idea of using the Goodyear Blimp as the vehicle for a terrorist attack at the Super Bowl. The next novel, "Red Dragon" (1981), tells the story of the FBI's search for a murderer and introduces the infamous character Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. The 1986 movie version of this novel was titled Manhunter. Next came, what many considered to be a masterpiece of suspense, "The Silence of the Lambs" (1988) and brings back the psychopathic killer Hannibal Lecter in an intense exploration of evil. The film version became the third movie in history to claim the top five Academy Awards, which were Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Actress (Jodie Foster), Best Screenplay (Ted Tally), Best Director (Jonathan Demme) and Best Picture. The sequel, "Hannibal," was published in 1999 and it was also made into a movie.